


The Boy Next Door

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 21:01:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Louis moves in next door, Harry can't help but, well, stare. I mean, who wouldn't, right? Only problem is, Gemma's been looking first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boy Next Door

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt on Tumblr:
> 
> "I think you should write a one shot where the Tomlinson family moves next door to the styles, and Gemma has a big crush on Louis, but Louis is more interested in Harry"

Harry walked home with the sort of jubilation that he felt every Friday afternoon but which had been escalated by the fact it was also the end of the last day of term before the summer holidays. As he approached his house while attempting to pick silly string off the bag on his shoulders, he noticed a blue Nissan Versa parked outside their neighbours’ house. He didn't recognise the car, but he was too desperate for a drink to really pay it any attention. It was only when he entered through his front door and found his sister staring through the window which looked out onto the yard of the house next door that he became immediately interested. He’d always been quite nosy after all.

“What is it you’re looking at?” he asked, peering over Gemma’s shoulder to try and see what she was so intrigued by and she jumped in surprise.

“Jesus, Haz! I didn’t even realise you’d come in yet!”

With a wide smile her brother rested a large, annoyingly (to him at least) pale hand on her shoulder.

“Evidently not, sis, you’re too busy checking out…” Here he positioned his head beside hers and took a gander out of the window. “… what, exactly?”

Gemma released a high-pitched giggle that was quite unlike her usual behaviour before simply gesturing towards a young man who had suddenly come out of their neighbour’s door.

He was - Harry had to admit - extremely good looking, with a thick dark brown fringe and blue eyes in his tanned face that made the younger boy feel slightly weak at the knees. Judging by her reaction to his presence Gemma clearly thought so too, for she began pretending to fan herself as the other lad opened the doors of the blue car parked outside number 43 to take out a suitcase, seemingly not realising that he was also sticking his arse in the air at the same time. Not only was Gemma practically drooling beside him but Harry also felt his pulse begin to race, causing him to lean in closer without even realising. There was no doubt about it: the anonymous youth had done more than just catch his attention.

However at the same time there was a sense of resigned sadness below his evident attraction. No matter how attractive the mysterious boy might be, there was no escaping the fact that his sister had seen him first and to do anything about his feelings would be breaking the unwritten code which existed between them. Gemma said it was 'the laws of feminism or something'. Harry just reckoned he had more taste than to pick up guys his sister was interested in.

Just then all those thoughts were suddenly flung out of his head as the subject of their observations straightened up, turned around, and spotted them though the glass. He waved at the two siblings with his free hand before winking cheekily as well. Flushing beetroot red, Harry instantly ducked down out of view below the window as embarrassment clawed at his insides from being caught spying, however Gemma simply waved back coyly in a seemingly nonplussed way. Despite his evident discomfort the teenage boy couldn’t help but admire her candour.

“You’re shameless, Gem,” he told her, but she just grinned down and then offered a hand to help him up.

“It’s called flirting, little bro - something I thought you knew quite a bit about if my mates are telling the truth!”

A grin spread across Harry's face at that despite his lingering embarrassment; Gemma knew perfectly well that he was gay but he could never resist teasing her female friends whenever they came round by flattering them unreservedly. Her few male friends were also used to the same treatment.

“I still can’t believe you waved back to him,” he continued, shaking his head in amazement and also admiration, for it was usually him who flirted with everything that moved rather than his sister. Taking another look out of the window, he saw that their neighbours’ gorgeous mystery guest had disappeared back into the house and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

“Well, he was totally fit, wasn’t he?” reasoned Gemma, unknowingly causing a jolt of jealousy to stab through Harry as he was reminded how impossible his fantasies about the other young man were. “Don’t you think?”

Realising he was expected to give an answer, Harry tried to play it cool by simply nodding half-heartedly as though nonplussed by the matter. In reality, however, his brain was still buzzing and his heart pounding harder than he would ever care to admit.

“I suppose so.”

Here he made his way towards the kitchen so that she wouldn’t be able to read the truth in his face: that he might just be a bit in love already.

***

That evening, Harry was midway through eating his pasta bake when the word ‘neighbours’ caught his attention and he subconsciously began to actually listen to his mum and Gemma’s conversation.

“Yes, the Tomlinsons have invited us round for dinner tomorrow actually,” Anne continued, unaware of how her son’s heart had suddenly begun to beat ten times faster at her words.

“Oh, really? Why?” Despite her attempts to stay subtle Gemma was clearly exited at the prospect too, which caused their mother to smile knowingly.

“Jay said you met her son, Louis, this morning – he’s back from university for the holidays and I guess they’d like us to meet him.”

The teenage boy glared at his sister as he realised the reason she’d been so confident when they were waved at, but she merely shot him an innocent grin as though she had no idea what he was so angry about. To be honest neither did he, except there was a sense within him that she had an unfair advantage over Louis, which (although he would never care to admit it) made him feel ridiculously jealous. Sighing, he turned back to his mum and tried to find out more without being too intrusive.

“Um, how long is he going to be here for?”

Anne seemed a little startled at Harry's sudden inclusion in the conversation, but then she smiled and began to reply.

“I don’t know, darling, you’ll have to ask tomorrow.”

His mother turned back to Gemma who had given up trying to act indifferent and was beaming at the prospect of spending a whole evening with Louis and his family. It was all Harry could do to avoid doing the same; he had to keep reminding himself that it was ‘against the rules’ to feel anything towards their newest neighbour when his sister had such a clear crush on him too.

“She said he’s particularly looking forward to meeting the two of you,” Anne revealed with a significant look towards her daughter, having clearly picked up on her emotions but not Harry's. After a long struggle with unnecessary fears of rejection he had only come out to his mum about six months ago, so he couldn’t really blame her for not realising that he might well have been attracted to the student next door too, however that didn’t stop his smile from drooping when he considered the fact that even his own mother thought there was no chance in hell he could ever get with Louis.

***

The next day was one of the most beautiful of the summer so far and Harry spent most of the morning sunbathing in the back garden, which definitely wasn’t because he wanted to catch a glimpse of… anyone. ‘Summer of ‘69’ was blasting through his portable speakers while the mid-morning sun beat overhead which made him slightly drowsy, yet he swore he’d only closed his eyes for a moment when the sound of a lawnmower cut through his daydreams. Eyelids flickering open, he pulled down his sunglasses to try and spot the source of the noise, which wasn’t difficult because barely a few metres away from him on the other side of a rather dilapidated fence Louis Tomlinson was mowing the lawn. He was also shirtless.

Although it felt rather stupid to be acting like a 13 year old girl with a crush, Harry couldn’t help his mouth from hanging open at the sight of his new neighbour’s bare upper body: he had the makings of a six pack that the younger boy would have died for and his tan continued past his neck and arms to give him the look of someone who’d spent his whole life in the sun. Thankfully he had his back to Harry so was totally oblivious to the gawping going on in the adjoining garden, however this changed when his lawnmower reached the end of the grass and Louis turned to head back up a parallel strip.

It was inevitable that Harry would be spotted - in fact he could almost see the event happening before it did - but he was still shocked when their eyes met and Louis' flashed with confusion and then recognition.

“Hey there!” his voice had the same northern accent as his mother and siblings – a far cry from Harry’s lethargic tones – and strangely he didn’t seem bothered by being caught shirtless. “It’s Harry, isn’t it?”

The noise which came out of the other boy’s mouth at first was something akin to a cat being strangled, but when he finally managed to summon up actual words it didn’t go much better for him.

“I, er, well, you see, um, I’ve got to go…”

Here he jumped up from his sun lounger as he realised he was starting to gabble as usual, and backed towards his house, neglecting to bother picking up his speakers or the sunglasses which had fallen off due to his sudden actions.

“I’m sorry,” he called too quietly for Louis to hear when he was though the opened French doors and safely away from the source of his further embarrassment. How was he ever going to behave like a normal person that evening? Or ever, in fact, when the older boy was so unreasonably attractive to him?

***

“Get out of the bathroom, Gems!”

Harry leant against the locked door with a whining tone to his voice as he waited for his turn to get ready before they left for dinner.

“Just a minute!” she yelled back, sounding flustered at being told to hurry up, and five minutes later her brother stumbled backwards when she forced the door open into him.

“Careful!” his yelp was cut short as he realised Gemma was wearing a rather stunning and showy dress teamed with quite a lot of makeup - he didn’t usually care what she had on at any given time but it made him suddenly start questioning his own clothing choices. Although he tried to convince himself this sudden self-consciousness had nothing to do with their hosts for the evening, it was Louis’ face that came to mind when he thought about trying to impress anyone. Would he think Harry was shabby for dressing normally? Or, even worse, simply childish?

By this time his sister had stormed past him into her room once again; without any real thought for her privacy he opened the door with his foot and stepped through, only knocking as an afterthought.

“What the… Oh it’s you, Harry.” She glanced up at the boy who’d just entered her room then went back to reapplying her lipstick in the mirror. “What do you want?”

“Um,” struggling to think of a way to phrase his worries which wouldn’t make the reason for them too obvious, Harry dragged a hand through his hair nervously. “Do - do you think I look alright?”

Gemma could always tell when any member of her family was upset or anxious and she quickly turned to him in order to see what was wrong. Realising she was likely to guess the true intentions behind his query, her brother attempted a carefree smile in her direction, which must have been relatively convincing because she returned the expression with a casual:

“Yeah you look fine!”

That wasn’t really much of a comfort to Harry, however. He didn’t want to just look fine, he wanted to look… well, if he was honest he wanted to look attractive to Louis despite all the warnings he’d given himself about not pursuing his feelings. Forcing a grateful look onto his face, he pretended to have been consoled by his sister’s words, when in fact he still couldn’t stop worrying that his clothes and hair wouldn’t be good enough to stand a chance of helping him achieve his impossible dream of impressing a certain neighbour of his.

***

The Tomlinsons were very friendly people and it was with a large grin that Jay opened the door to greet her neighbours.

“Hello there!” she enthused, giving Anne a quick amicable hug and beckoning for the young people to enter the house behind them. “How are you all?”

As the two mothers began chattering with one another, Harry cast what he hoped was a subtle glance around to try and spot the reason for his earlier anxieties before he was suddenly set upon by two balls of childish energy.

“Harry! Harry! Harry!” they cried in almost perfect unison, while he wrapped his arms around them in a double hug - since the family had moved to the area the two girls had become like the younger siblings he’d never had and he loved spending time with them and their other sisters who now came out of the living room to say hello.

“Hello girls!”

Looking up the stairs once more he manoeuvred Phoebe and Daisy until they were far enough down the hallway for Gemma and the other women to properly come in. His ears pricked up at the mention of Louis.

“I’m so sorry I can’t introduce you to my son yet, but apparently he’s still getting ready,” joked Jay, sending the other mum a meaningful look, and the teenage boy’s heart sank as he presumed this was to the benefit of impressing his sister. After all, it would be far too hopeful to even contemplate the idea of Louis being gay.

In an attempt to distract himself from this upset he turned to Charlotte and began to talk to her about the school they both attended.

“Chatting up the neighbours already, Lottie?”

“Shut up, Lou, that’s your job!”

Letting the banter wash over him, Harry couldn’t help but watch the older boy walk down the stairs, admiring his choice of clothing (a striped shirt and braces which shouldn’t have worked together but most definitely did) and appearance. It would be embarrassing to be caught gawping once again, yet there was no way the teenager could peel his eyes away from the vision of attractiveness before him until his mother almost had to drag him into the dining room so dinner could begin. 

Unfortunately it seemed Gemma had noticed how handsome Louis was looking too.

The meal itself was a rather uneventful affair, with Harry being made to feel ridiculously jealous as Gemma and Louis chattered away on the other side of the table while he was left to entertain the twins. He was 17 years old but at that moment he felt about 10 again, being left out by his sister’s older and cooler friends.

Unwilling to be humiliated completely, the younger man spoke as much as possible to the parents at one end of the table about politics and the economy in a blatant attempt to impress Louis – when that didn’t seem to work he deliberately mentioned his ex-boyfriend, Niall, although by that time the whole escapade was starting to feel a little pointless. The only time when Louise wasn’t talking to his sister was when he complimented his mother on her cooking, or shot a smile in the Harry’s direction. To burst their bubble seemed impossible.

After several hours of trying and failing to enjoy himself around the relentlessly giggly couple he knew he was likely to be wearing an expression like sucking lemons, and therefore began to push his family towards leaving. Anne was a little tipsy by this time, so gave into his suggestions easily enough, whereas Gemma seemed keen to stay; only agreeing to make a move when the other Styles’ were almost out of the door. However even then Louis didn’t leave her side as she pulled on her jacket next to Harry.

“Hey do you want to go swimming tomorrow?” he asked just as they were about to leave, his voice bright and jovial. Gemma flipped her hair flirtatiously as she nodded in reply and Harry felt yet another stab of jealousy so strong that he didn’t trust himself to look at Louis’ face without feeling stupidly close to tears.

Of course, this was Louis asking his sister out, which would inevitably lead to a further relationship for the next few weeks at least while the student was back home, and then they were headed to universities only a few miles from each other…

“Both of you?”

Harry's heart skipped an unexpected beat at the continuation of the question; he turned away from where he was about to exit the house and nodded in an embarrassingly excited manner. Although she seemed a little put out, Gemma replied that they would be delighted to join him the next day at the local open air baths.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Harry muttered shyly. It sounded pathetically needy to him, but he hoped Louis would see his gratitude as endearing rather than desperate. All anxiety quickly forgotten, Harry practically skipped home, high on the thought of a day with his handsome neighbour, and chose to ignore the niggling doubt in the back of his mind that reminded him there was no guarantee that Louis and Gemma wouldn’t still get together.

***

On their arrival at the pool the next day, Gemma and Harry were greeted by a beaming Louis and another boy who introduced himself a Stan, a childhood friend of the Doncaster boy.

“… And you must be the beautiful neighbour Tommo told me about.”

Harry sighed at the newcomer’s obvious attempts at flirtation, but was pleased that this might at least call some sort of an end to his sister’s endless conversation with Louis. Going to get changed, the older boys encouraged the teenager to follow them while his sister headed in the opposite direction towards the room signposted ‘Ladies’.

Normally he had no qualms with stripping off in any situation - as his sister would testify with disgust whenever he chose to walk around the house naked of a morning - but being in front of such an attractive boy made him slightly self-conscious of his four nipples and significantly less toned body than his fellow young men. Thankfully they all decided to wear their trunks under their trousers which prevented yet more embarrassment for him.

As had become almost normal whenever he was around Louis, Harry had reverted back to an adolescent girl with regards to mannerisms and social skills. It was therefore a relief to him that Louis was the one to strike up a conversation when Harry could think of nothing to say except ridiculously cheesy compliments and stupidly obvious comments. Louis made lots of jokes, and Harry thought maybe he was laughing too much, but in any case it stopped him from coming across as an idiot. When Louis smiled at him, he even managed to flash a grin back.

***

Harry thought it was strange that for the whole time they were at the swimming baths Louis didn’t once complain about Stan’s relentless flirting with Gemma. Considering how close they had appeared to grow during the evening before, the older boy seemed perfectly content with his friend chatting up the only girl there, and Harry wondered whether he’d been reading too much into their laughter and conversation during the meal after all, especially when his sister began to flirt back.

Instead of bothering himself with what was really none of his business, however, he carried on with the true intention behind his arrival that morning: talking to and hopefully impressing Louis as much as possible. He was unsure how much he was ‘allowed’ to pry into the other young man’s personal life, so overcame his own nosiness in order to keep the conversation light. After his third laughing fit or so, Louis rested a tanned hand on his bare forearm, whether to steady himself or imply intimacy Harry wasn’t sure but he liked it.

“You’re a funny guy, Styles!” he told him, which was a significant first in the Harry’s life.

“Really? My sister says I don’t kill jokes, I murder them brutally in their sleep.”

This only served to make Louis start giggling all over again, and suddenly Harry was laughing along though the joke wasn’t particularly funny. It just felt right for them to be laughing together.

He and Gemma had to leave at 3, just as the midday heat was finally beginning to leave the air slightly, and Harry realised he’d spent barely any time at all in the water – he had been too busy talking and mucking about with Louis. To speak of the devil, their neighbour then walked over to them with a newfound nervousness that the teenage boy thought made him seem adorably puppyish, which only made his next words all the more painful.

“Er, I was wondering, do you fancy going for a meal some time? I mean, I’m just a student so it would probably be pizza but, you know…” his voice tailed off as the other young man’s stomach sank. Waiting for the reply from Gemma which would inevitably break his heart, he couldn’t bring himself to look at his friend and his perfection which unfortunately it seemed was for his sister instead of him.

Only when Gemma nudged him did Harry realise something was wrong with the scenario, and her words confirmed it.

“I think he’s talking to you, Haz!”

His green eyes grew wide as he glanced up into Louis’ anxiously anticipatory face before a wide grin broke across his face that seemed to startle, delight and confuse the other boy in equal measure.

“Well?” he asked with a hint of impatience, which was overshadowed by his clear hopefulness.

“I’d love to!”

No sooner were the words out of Harry’s mouth than Louis began to beam as well, along with Gemma who was smiling from behind their neighbour’s shoulder while Stan wrapped a hand around her waist. There was no need for any further words between the new couple as they shyly entwined their hands together and made their way back towards the changing rooms. Everything had turned out perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> Aww, I loved this prompt when I got it ages ago, and I still think it's a super cute idea for a fic :) Plus the Tomlinson family are so much fun to write!


End file.
